Traveltime tomography of a dense wide-angle profile across Orphan Basin

Abstract

We used first arrivals and Moho reflections from the 500-km-long Orphan Basin Wide-Angle Velocity Experiment (OBWAVE) profile with 3–5-km instrument spacing to construct a traveltime tomography section and to delineate the Moho discontinuity across the Orphan Basin. The Orphan Basin is a failed rift located offshore Newfoundland, Canada, showing thinned continental crust over an unusually wide region. We observed (1) a zone of extreme crustal thinning ([Formula: see text]-thick crust) with no evidence for mantle serpentinization, (2) basement morphology exhibiting tilted blocks linked to the crustal thinning, and (3) a thicker central crustal segment that is probably related to prerift structural inheritance. Comparison with the adjacent Jeanne d’Arc Basin to the southeast suggested the presence of a decoupling zone between the two basins accommodating the difference in extension rates. There was a good correlation between the tomographic velocities and the reflection structure derived from a coincident seismic reflection profile except in an area in which the reflection seismic data suggested the presence of a deep sedimentary basin. The velocity model computed in this work indicated that this area consists of prerift basement rather than Jurassic or older sediments. Tomographic models computed by varying the density of the recording instrument array gave insight into the relationship among the target size, the instrument spacing needed to resolve it, and the velocity model uncertainty. These results may help guide the design of future wide-angle reflection and refraction surveys across rifted structures.